This. In the past, they would have been drummed out of the village and made to live in a cave in the mountains. They would have been shunned by society. They would have been jailed for endangering others. They would have been pariahs.
Also they are trying to survive the primary. Once they are nominated, the R in front of their name will get the entire Republican electorate backing them up no matter what they do. But if they show a bit of weakness some crazier than thou upstart will knock them out before they even get to the general.
As to why the Republicans seem to be pro Covid. It is pretty much boils down to “I don’t wanna. So you can’t make me.” combined with a heavy dose of “You’re not the boss of me.” and contrariness out of spite.
Most of the people I met while doing yoga were decidedly liberal, but I’m not sure that’s any big surprise as the neighborhoods I lived in were decidedly liberal.
But there were some exceptions, and they were doozies.
It’s the vaccine denial / alternative medicine / conspiracy crowd, who (until a few years ago, at least) considered themselves to be apolitical - mostly because everything is part of the big conspiracy. And there are degrees, I know an almost normal yoga teacher who is vaccinated and requires masks at her business and everything- but she still can’t shut up about how she really believes the reason she hasn’t gotten Covid is the supplements that boosted her immune system. I suggested that maybe she hasn’t gotten Covid because she hadn’t been exposed.
And there’s another commonality I see between evangelical and New Age anti-vaxxers, and that’s a belief in intercession - divine intervention, as it were. Much as the religious believe that appeals to God will protect them, some new agers believe they can make the same appeal to “the Universe” or “angels” or their “spiritual guardian”. And sometimes this becomes a test of faith, a need to prove their beliefs by rejecting vaccines and other medical intervention.
If one makes no use of intelligence or medicine when he could do so without detriment to his neighbor, such a person injures his body and must beware lest he become a suicide in God’s eyes. By the same reasoning a person might forego eating and drinking, clothing and shelter, and boldly proclaim his faith that if God wanted to preserve him from starvation and cold, he could do so without food and clothing. Actually that would be suicide. It is even more shameful for a person to pay no heed to his own body and to fail to protect it against the plague the best he is able, and then to infect and poison others who might have remained alive if he had taken care of his body as he should have. He is thus responsible before God for his neighbor’s death and is a murderer many times over.
- Martin Luther, 1527
What a good source!
Not that it is likely to persuade many believers. The ones who remain adamant about resisting vaccines and/or masks, distancing, and all other precautions cannot be affected by facts or logic or science or anything else. It is now their sense of identity and if they “cave” it would mean the worst thing possible. (Not that they learned from an experience-- that the Libs were right all along!!)
Certain non-voters.
Here in Canada we have a party called the People’s Party of Canada, a right wing populist party which has only participated in the 2019 and 2021 elections. It did far better this time than last, tripling it’s vote. The leader ran on an anti-vaccine and COVID non-intervention platform.
While he probably gained most votes from typically Conservative voters (the leader, Maxime Bernier, used to be a Conservative), he also gained votes from politically disengaged conservatives who don’t normally vote. I suspect Trump did this as well: he lost, but he gained more votes in 2020 compared to 2016. Biden won even more votes as people were highly motivated to push Trump out.
In Canada, even in provinces with low vaccination rates, non-interventionist premiers have seen a fall in their approval rating, and even in Alberta the premier has been forced to implement COVID intervention measures (conveniently after the recent federal election). I don’t know if the governors of Florida and Texas will pay this price, especially in Texas where even an unpopular Republican is almost guaranteed to win an election. Despite the non-intervention Florida has surprisingly low COVID rates. DeSantis seems to have inherited Trump’s reality-altering abilities.
Quite a ways back, Florida changed who was responsible for producing COVID statistics. I don’t remember the details but it was something like the governor’s office taking it over from whatever office had it in the Health department. Anyway, ever since then I haven’t trusted the FL numbers to be accurate, rather than manipulated for political purposes.
Now I remember. I think she was threatened with being arrested.
DeSantis makes his own luck, I guess.
I’ve been looking publicly COVID-19 reporting data since last April and I have no confidence in what has been presented by the Florida Department of Health even aside from the very public issues that were in the news last year.
Stranger
I’m not American, nor is my brother. But he is a COVID sceptic. He is also anti-gay, anti-trans, anti-women, anti-environment, global warming denier etc etc. So my theory is that he sees the people telling us to take measures against the pandemic are the same people who are pro-all of the above, and hence have to be opposed.
Okay, this will take a moment to set-up and explain but it is on topic.
I am currently reading the Yuval Noah Harari book Sapiens (A brief History of Humankind) and he suggests a theory that directly addresses what we are discussing here.
He argues that Homo Sapiens are unique in that we can both gossip, and have abstract thoughts. He goes to great lengths to demonstrate this not only in comparisons to monkeys, apes, and aquatic mammals (like dolphins), but also with two extinct species of fully human beings. He shows how other species can communicate and differentiate; for example monkeys who have a different sound for: “warning, a bird of prey” and “warning, a lion”. But there is no evidence and little reason to believe they ponder imaginary or abstract things like gods.
He then goes on to demonstrate that abstract thoughts allow us to hold common myths. It allows humans to cooperate with complete strangers because we share a common belief. Soldiers who had never met will cooperate in battle to defend a nation or city, missionaries will cooperate to build a church, etc.
Then, he gets to the key factor-- how these abstract thoughts come to be. He uses one of the first corporations to demonstrate the matter (one that still exists although the founder died long ago). He asks what is the company? Is it the product they produce? No, because if they were all destroyed more could be manufactured. Is it then the means of production, the factory? No, because it could be rebuilt or moved to another location. So it must be the workers? Others could be, and have been trained and replaced. Well, it must be the executives then! But the corporation has been run by many men and many teams and will likely be run by many different men and teams. He finally arrives at a truth I was reluctant to accept.
It exists as a unique entity because we all agree it exists. The same could be said for nations, and religions, even for currency. A hundred dollar bill and a one dollar bill are roughly the same amount of ink on the same sized piece of paper-- but we would all rather be given the hundred than than the single. And all because we believe one is more valuable than the other. (He does a very good job of explaining these ideas over a couple of chapters- if my lame, half assed summary strikes you as well, lame and half assed, please read the original work. The fault lies with me I assure you.)
So here is where that lesson can be applied to our political landscape and specifically COVID treatments and what they mean.
Progressives and Trump following right wingers do NOT share a common myth. We disagree about everything. Starting with the country they love so much that they believe we are trying to destroy. They believe sincerely that America was founded as a Christian Nation, a holy ‘city upon a hill’ founded by God for God through good sincere Christian men and their doting wives. Progressives tend to know that the United States was specifically structured as a SECULAR government allowing plurality of thought and belief.
Those on the right often believe that any sex other than heterosexual congress (after dark, in the missionary position with your one lifelong spouse) is wrong-- more than wrong, evil! Not only evil, but something they must fight against because it is not enough for them to live according to their views – EVERYONE must live according to their views. (Which they often seem to contradict in their own lives after insisting everyone comply to their views.)
Their myth sometimes includes an Earth that is less than ten-thousand years old and due to end any moment now due to a rapture which is eminent because there are wars and rumors of wars and pandemics and hunger. Most of us tend to believe the Earth and Universe are a bit older and less coddled by divine beings. (By which I do NOT mean progressives cannot be good and sincere theists, I know many who are including some here on this board.)
Even I am growing weary of my examples. The point is that we do not share many common myths with the right. Our idea of religious persecution is what happened in Sudan – their idea is wearing a piece of cloth over their face. They believe being equal to all other peoples and religions are persecutions because they believe (wrongly) that from the time of the Pilgrims landing in North America, until “The Squad” were elected to Congress, we were a steady and reliable people of God. In fact the “new” people of God, exceptional due to our devotion to God- chosen ones for and by the one true God and creator of things visible and invisible.
We are two completely different tribes occupying the same space. What is really different at this time in history is that those on the right have decided that THEY are the only ones qualified to make any decisions for the whole larger group and refuse to cooperate or allow “other” views. They not only do not cooperate, they actively oppose and obstruct any thing the left tries to do for themselves or for the whole.
This part goes beyond the topic and is just my observation, but I believe it is related:
From the historical example of Americas 1950’s and 1960’s, to some degree- the more successful the right will be in the next few years might very well be their undoing in the next decade.
Right after the war the United States went through a conservative and religious shift where God and country became the most important factors in day to day life. Fighting the Godless Commies meant putting In God We Trust on our money and adding the phrase Under God into the Pledge of Allegiance. Complying with societal norms and keeping up appearances was vital as was resisting, fighting against communism (not as much as a system of government-- as a godless belief system).
But that lead to the backlash of the 60’s, the counter-culture and all of the reforms since then. It was a tough time and people were beaten and killed for doing things as fundamental as voting or asking for equal treatment. While that fight is far from over, there were some significant advances started right after the most conservative and religious turn our nation ever had. I believe we must resist what is happening on the right with all our might. But the small successes they may win now might just come back to bite them on the rear down the road.